BC's Shrinking Public Sector

It is a little known fact that BC’s public sector has been shrinking both in terms of employees per capita and expenditures relative to GDP (or the size of the economy) since the early 1990s. This is because our public service already went through several comprehensive reviews in recent years that looked for ways to cut costs. Simply put, BC entered the recession with one of the leanest public sectors in the country and there was little room for cuts without compromising much-needed public services. The recent round of cuts has made BC’s ability to deliver programs and services all the more difficult.

In anticipation of Tuesday’s provincial budget, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warns that further cuts to public spending will impede the economic recovery, which is already expected to be slow and jobless.